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Author Notes:This punch combines fall and winter fruit flavors with Prosecco and just a little elderflower liqueur. It is sweet-tart with a bit of complexity provided by the spices and elderflower. It would be perfect for a holiday gathering or to ring in the new year. Cheers! —hardlikearmour

Food52 Review: This tasty effervescent punch is a perfect aperitif for the holiday season. With sparkling pear juice and prosecco, there's double the bubbles and this beautifully crimson punch hits all the right notes. Subtle hints of ginger and cardamom mellow out the tart pomegranate juice, and when mixed with the elderflower liqueur, you get a nice balance of sweet and tart flavors. Try hardlikearmour's suggestion of freezing sparkling pear juice with pomegranate arils for fancy ice cubes to float in the punch. —jvcooks

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Makes 12 5-oz servings

2 cups 100% pomegranate juice

2 to 3 inch knob of ginger, thinly sliced

20 green cardamom pods, crushed

1 bottle extra-dry Prosecco (750 ml)

1 bottle sparkling pear juice (750 ml)

½ to ¾ cup St. Germain elderflower liqueur

Combine the pomegranate juice, ginger, and cardamom in a medium sauce pan.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a robust simmer. Cook until reduced to approximately 1 cup, about 30 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and allow to cool to room temperature. Pass reduced juice through a fine mesh strainer into a storage vessel. Chill in the refrigerator at least 2 hours before making punch. Can be made up to 3 days ahead.

Just before serving combine reduced pomegranate juice, Prosecco, pear juice, and ½ cup elderflower liqueur in a large pitcher or punch bowl. Taste and add more elderflower liqueur if desired.

For a fancy party presentation, place a sugar cube in the bottom of a champagne flute, and add the punch. The sugar cube will create a continuous stream of tiny bubbles. It will disintegrate, but doesn't dissolve much into the punch so won't change the flavor dramatically. (See photo 1)

I served this as an apertif for a small dinner party before Christmas and it was a hit. I found the sparking pear juice at a well-stocked liquor store and used a half-cup of St. Germain. Those who are unfamiliar with this liquor should add gradually to suit thier taste. Any leftover punch can be stored in the refrigerator and revived with a splash of sparking water.

I concur in that this was wonderful and will become one of my favorites as well. Being Ms. T's mother has it's benefits - she made this for us when home for the holidays. We found the leftover was great with sparkling water. Really nice blend of flavors ! Trying to save this to my recipe box but having trouble since the new web design...

I made this again last night for my family's Hanukkah/solstice/early Christmas celebration, and it was even better than the first time! The Pom wonderful brand made a big difference in color and flavor. I still couldn't find sparkling pear juice in the store--I've now looked in three upscale grocery stores in two states. Where do you find it? Lovely recipe that will be one of my holiday standards for years to come :)

I wasn't sure about adding the smoky flavor, so I stuck to green cardamom and it was great! I loved the complexity of the floral and spice. I couldn't find sparkling pear juice, so I used pear juice and sparkling water, which seemed to work just fine. My only disappointment was that I didn't get the pretty pink color of the photos--our cocktails were brown. It was probably due to my choice of pear juice and pom juice. Have you ever noticed that some pomegranate juice is red, and some is much more brown? I could only find the brownish variety. In any case, after the first sip, nobody minded because it tasted so lovely :)

Yes, I looked for POM wonderful, but they only had mixtures at the store: pom-blueberry, pom-mango, etc...So I had to use the non-refrigerated kind, which is browner. Oh well, I'll go for pink next time, cuz the flavors were definitely worth repeating. Cheers!

We tried it with sparkling apple cider, and it's not as good. The apple is too sweet for some reason. Maybe a 50:50 mix of sparkling apple cider and seltzer or a flavored sparkling water would would be better?